Chapter 42: Benefits for animals

Yun Ye has never had much respect for Buddhism, not because the manager at the Maji Mountain tourist site swapped his camera, but because of their inaction. As long as there are places with excellent scenery on the land of China, you can always see the shadow of Buddhism. Buddhists today should thank their ancestors for leaving behind a rich legacy, which has led to the exquisite temples of later generations and countless tickets of great value.

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the Tang Dynasty. Now, they don’t know anything about this name. Once Xuanzang returned from studying abroad, he would be welcomed by thousands of people. Then, Xuanzang said that there was a lack of a place to preserve Buddhist scriptures, and then there was the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It’s amazing. Is it that our ancestors passed down to us a tendency to worship foreign things? Is it not our own inferior nature? We must cut off this root, otherwise, without the Ci’en Temple, where can Grandma go to worship the Buddha? She only believes in the Buddha who lives in the small temple.

Xuanzang is still under thirty years old, and neither his reputation nor his fame can compete with Yun Ye. If he returns from studying abroad, Yun Ye will only be able to look up to him.

Li Xiaogong used the excuse of punishing Yun Ye to gather a large group of people to support Buddhism, which made Yun Ye very angry.

Xiao Yu actually wants to get the shortest route from the Tang Dynasty to India from Yun Ye. Has he been kicked in the head by a donkey?

Can Yun Ye tell him that the shortest route is to go from Tibet to Nepal to India, or to take a boat from Quanzhou to India, which is much better than going halfway across the Soviet Union? Thinking about traveling such a long way, Yun Ye felt sorry for Xuanzang’s aching legs. But if he didn’t do it, how would the Tang Dynasty have the Twelve Volumes of the Great Tang Records of the Western Regions? How would the Tang Dynasty have achieved such great feats sweeping across Central Asia? So Yun Ye has to keep on walking, and he doesn’t care if he gets the legendary Mahayana Buddhist scriptures or not. Even if he writes one himself on the way, Yun Ye will happily help him publish it and give him a lot of royalties. The prerequisite is to get the “Tang Dynasty Western Regions Record” back. This book is too important.

Xiao Yu was furious, shaking off Yun Ye’s hand and pointing at Yun Ye. He opened his mouth for a long time, but he couldn’t say a word. Yun Ye was right. Lao Tzu rode a blue ox out of Hangu Pass to prove his Taoism and wrote the famous work of all time “Tao Te Ching,” and was later revered as a god. Zhuangzi wrote “A Happy Excursion” and became immortal. Confucius had “The Analects of Confucius” and became a saint. I’ve never heard of Mao Hama, but I think he must be a great man. Why can’t Xuanzang write? Sakyamuni was just a prince, and a prince of a small country at that. His status was not necessarily as noble as Xuanzang’s. Why could he claim to be a Buddha just because he sat under the Bodhi tree for forty-nine days?

The room was quiet, the noise was gone, and the people in the room could be called the essence of the Tang Dynasty. No one had ever thought that what others had done could be done by oneself.

Thoughts determine height, and fine chapters determine success or failure. Therefore, Yun Ye plans to supplement the fine chapters, so that these country bumpkins can fully experience what it means to be free and unfettered, and what it means to make a leap in thought.

“Sir, you are a great scholar, and your knowledge is like the vast ocean. Why don’t you record your life’s work and pass it on to future generations?” Seeing Xiao Yu’s excited expression, he quickly came forward to support him.

“I always thought that only the great could write biographies, and only the famous could pass on their writings. This barrier has blocked me for twenty years. Now, in my old age, I finally understand the reason. Xuanzang, if you are interested in going west, I will help you with a hundred pieces of copper and a good horse. As for me, I am ready to spend my remaining years studying the classics and digging through the piles of old papers.” After saying this, the old man gracefully bowed and left.

For someone like Xiao Yu, who is already half-way across the threshold, it is easy to say that the old master’s books are naturally enjoyable to everyone. People of high moral character also have a lofty spirit in their writing, and reading them is like drinking nectar, making it impossible to sleep at night.

But I don’t know where the old He came from. He blinked his big eyes and said to Yun Ye that he also wanted to write a book. This made Yun Ye feel like he had been struck by lightning. The mouthful of grape wine he had just swallowed almost came out of his stomach. “What kind of book do you want to write? How do you want to write it?”

“Brother, you are worthy of being a famous mathematician of the generation. You must have a way to print the manuscript into a book, right? Otherwise, you will lose a lot. Don’t think that your brother doesn’t know your little tricks. You just want to make some money. Mr. Xiao’s book will definitely be a good book, but how many people read good books? Do you still remember the famous paintings we enjoyed at Yanlai Building last time?

Finding Lao He as a brother is the most ill-advised thing Yun Ye has done so far. It’s not his mother’s famous paintings, but realistic human body observation drawings carefully painted by master painters, which are commonly known as “spring palace paintings.” In later generations, he had already seen the teaching treasure of Master Cang, which was ten thousand times better than his broken paintings. How could he be attracted by a few broken pictures with a scale that was not even as good as Western oil paintings of the human body?

Disdaining them, he discovered that Cheng Chumo, Changsun Chong, and Li Huiren were actually watching with blood pumping in their veins. Changsun Chong actually wanted to trade the jade pendant on his body for those few pieces of paper. The jade pendant was very well made, and Yun Ye asked for it several times, but he said that it would be used as a token of love in the future and could not be given to a man. Isn’t his mother Lao He a man?

There are always things that make people laugh and cry between men. Yun Ye is a person who does not know how to refuse a friend’s request for help. Lao He is satisfied with his goal.

“Lao He, you are a county man after all. Isn’t it a bit inappropriate to do this?” I can’t imagine a second-generation official with a pure and upright pedigree would lower his face to do this.

“What if you don’t do it? The whole family of more than 300 people are waiting for food, and my brother is not capable. He only got a lowly job as a teacher. How much can the little grain in the field produce? Can you live if you are used to being rich and then have to live a poor life?” I never thought that Lao He, who always had a smile on his face, would live such a miserable life. I remembered that I had beaten him up yesterday, and Yun Ye felt a little ashamed.

It seemed that Lao He, who knew what he was thinking, slapped him: “What are you thinking? Even if my brother is poor, will he still skip a meal for you? If you feel sorry for me, then our friendship is over. Next time you, Lord Yun, will treat me to a meal, and I, Lao He, will go hungry for two days and eat until I’m full. How about we call it even?”

The people of Guanzhong have a bad habit of pretending to be rich even when they are poor. Even if they are poor, they will treat their friends well when they come. Yesterday’s inkstone and meal have unwittingly owed a lot of favors.

“Don’t do anything that’s embarrassing. Your brother is the reincarnation of the God of Wealth. He makes money like it’s nothing. You’re poor because you deserve it. Don’t you know to ask? With a fool like you in the family, the wife and children are doomed.”

“Brother…”

“Brother, my ass. Let’s talk about it at the farm. What kind of status are we? Standing here talking about a few cents of money is embarrassing.” Yun Ye looked at the bustling guests around him and couldn’t help but straighten his chest, full of aristocratic airs.

Xuanzang still came to Yun Ye’s side to seek advice in good faith on the path to the West. There was no way to deal with such a fanatic. He just followed behind him silently, piously and sorrowfully.

How can you have the desire to eat when a dead man is following you? How can your neck not go cold when a hanged man is following you?

In desperation, Yun Ye had no choice but to give him a road map, the route that Xuanzang himself had taken, the classic route to the scriptures, which took him almost all the way around Xinjiang, then to several countries in Central Asia, and finally to Tianzhu from the city of Peshawar.

“This road can almost be called a dead end. Most of the road is uninhabited, and there is constant war in Zhaowu. You’d better be careful. Before you leave, you can come to my Yushan. I can’t help you with anything else, except for a set of travel bags. I wish you a safe journey.” He bowed his head and clasped his hands together to bless Xuanzang’s journey.

Those with great perseverance will achieve great things. After listening to Yun Ye’s explanation of the hardships of the journey, the monk looked troubled.

Xuanzang didn’t care if anyone else was going, and his face was as usual, as if he was just going on a long trip. He remembered all kinds of accidents that would happen in the desert, Gobi, and grasslands, and the simple ways to deal with them, and promised Yun Ye to record the mountains and rivers along the way, as well as the customs and customs. He would give it to him when he came back.

In history, Xuanzang’s travels have no trace of Jueyuan, so he is still just a monk with a stick, a monk from the Shaolin Temple in Chang’an who is known for his martial arts. I wonder what he will think when he sees Xuanzang return in glory. Fate is unfair, but he is so fair, always finding a delicate balance between the spear and the shield.

At the banquet, Xuanzang was not the most outstanding, and he was even a bit humble, so people ignored him. He did not have the compassion of those high monks and virtuous people, but he had more perseverance and longing. Only Yun Ye knew that this was the last light of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty. Perhaps it was not until Emperor Wuzong destroyed Buddhism that they would know the significance of Xuanzang’s journey.

The number of people at the banquet was increasing, and their status was also decreasing. The princes and lords who had arrived early were leaving one after another, and the bigwigs of the imperial court were also leaving one after another. Their presence was only symbolic. It was now time to talk about practical issues, so the representatives of their respective families naturally met with the monks of the temples they wanted to get to know.

It was only at this time that Yun Ye discovered that the temple was the biggest money lender. Due to the locust plague, the monks who appeared with a compassionate face benefited the most, and their wealth was coveted.

Yun Ye just drooled. Someone must be able to control all this. He didn’t believe that this simple banquet, which was selling a dog in a sheep’s skin, would escape Li Er’s eyes. The emperor, who had a strong desire to control the ants on the ground of the Great Tang, would tolerate their wanton plundering of his people?

Chang’an has never been a good place. It is full of cunning schemes and cruel plunder. Yun Ye, who had always been on the surface, only felt its most beautiful side, and only then did he realize how the military leaders cared for him.

Old Cheng, Old Niu, and even Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong have indulged in their own way. I don’t know what price the old generals have paid for their own misdeeds.

Since they set out on their expedition, Yun Ye has been involved in all kinds of turmoil, without end, and without seeing the end.

Power has not blinded my eyes.

Yun Ye suddenly felt an urge to laugh. No matter how noble their status or how respected their position, they were just profit-seeking animals. Once he realized this, Yun Ye felt that he was noble, no matter what he had done in the past, whether anyone understood him, or whether he would be ridiculed. It didn’t matter. This was just a rope that Yun Ye had hung for himself, just like the rope he had hung for himself in Longyou. He pulled in the front, and Niu Jinda pushed in the back.